When first responders descended to the Thayer Hall basement Friday evening, the floodwaters were already up to four inches in some areas.

“[The water] ran through the mechanical room, that whole back lab…those were all underwater,” said Stanley Kirsnes, project manager for Massaro Restoration Services and one of the first responders. “It was rushing through the hallway because it’s a downhill slope.”

Kirsnes first received a call between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., responding shortly thereafter. Workers from Massaro then had to contain the water as Pittsburgh Water Authority struggled to find the shut off.

“Point Park and [our company] spent a lot of time in effort to redirect the water to keep it away from the maintenance shop,” Kirsnes said. “We kept the print shop completely dry.”

According to the Physical Plant Vice President of Operations Chris Hill. Thayer flooded due to a “problem with a six-inch main water line feeding the RT Patterson building.”

“Thanks to a Herculean effort from the Physical Plant and Housekeeping, the damage was mitigated there as well,” Hill said in a statement via email. “That evening, we called in a team of specialists that is currently cleaning the space.”

Now that the water is cleared, large fans dot the hallways and rooms in Thayer’s basement. Most of the furniture is pushed to the back corners of each room with the chairs and technology stacked on top. One area still has a patchy, thin layer of mud on the floor.

“Since it was groundwater that came in, we have to clean and sanitize,” Kirsnes said.

While the source of the water in Thayer Hall came from Third Avenue, flooding in West Penn’s basement came from the river, according to Kirsnes.

“[It] began to crest on Saturday,” he said. “Point Park struggled to keep up with it, so we supplemented them with some pumps to avoid the switch gears and the electrical boxes.”

Hill said that the Ohio River reached its highest crest in more than 13 years, and that the university was prepared with sandbags and sump pumps to mitigate the damage.

Kirsnes expects cleanup to take a couple of weeks once the event has been fully stabilized and all repairs are made. Hill hopes to have the spaces back after spring break.

“Number one priority is keeping everyone safe,” Kirsnes said. “Number two is to save as much of the building as possible.”

One week after 15 clubs were deactivated, Point Park’s United Student Government (USG) re-activated 12 of them and added two new clubs to their roster.

The mass deactivation last Monday was brought on by clubs’ failure to comply with a request from USG for a member listing, officer listing and constitution. Over the past week, 12 of these clubs worked out the discrepancies with the governing body and are once again able to request funds.

The three remaining clubs – the Feminist Collective, Lighthouse Collective and National Press Photographers Association – are able to request to be re-activated at any point in the next three years. An inactive club, while able to reserve spaces and use its holding account, cannot request new funds.

In addition to re-activating 12 clubs, the legislative body recognized two new organizations: the Graphic Design Club and Pioneer Center Stage Show Choir. The Graphic Design Club seeks to connect students with graphic design professionals and engage in thoughtful networking opportunities. Pioneer Center Stage Show Choir will showcase student vocal talent in an extracurricular setting outside of formal conservatory shows and the university’s official choir, the Point Park Singers.

School of Communication professor Dr. Tim Hudson spoke to the legislative body about the changes the school made to its journalism program.

Effective in the fall of 2019, the existing broadcast reporting, photojournalism, mass communication, environmental journalism and journalism degrees will be phased out completely in favor of a new, unified journalism degree. Current students are not affected by the change.

The legislative body and students in attendance were able to ask Hudson and Professor Chris Rolinson questions about the changes.

Hudson said restructuring the School of Communication as a whole had been in the works as early as 2009 when he began working at Point Park.

Hudson said the change was motivated in part by the structure of programs at “competing schools,” which Rolinson and Hudson identified as Penn State, West Virginia and Slippery Rock universities.

USG Press Secretary Josh Croup asked why concentrations are not part of the new journalism degree.

“When you use the term ‘concentration’ or ‘sequence,’ it basically is just a synonym for ‘major,’” Hudson said. “The movement,for 30 years really has been to focus on the profession. Now, you can still take those courses; we didn’t get rid of any of those intermediate or advanced courses in any of those majors, so you can take those courses and you can call it an emphasis, or say that you concentrated on this. And people can work with their advisors on including that in their portfolio.”

While not eliminating courses, Hudson said earlier in the meeting that another goal of the consolidation is to increase the enrollment in those intermediate and advanced level courses.

USG President Robert Bertha asked Hudson what type of professionals were consulted prior to advancing the proposal.

“There are six full-time faculty members in journalism and it was a committee-of-the-whole,” Hudson said. “Among us, we know a lot of people and different groups of us were constantly in contact with other groups.”

While Hudson explained his personal history and anecdotal contacts, he did not mention any specific professionals consulted during the consolidation. Instead, he pointed to the review of the broadcast reporting major and its consultation with industry professionals in revising the existing degree.

In addition to Hudson’s open forum, the legislative body angled its focus on the future with the announcement of club funding applications and elections for the upcoming school year.

USG Treasurer Justin Stocklas said the application for club and organization funding is now live on USG’s PointSync portal and the finance committee will be taking applications through March 6. Any active club may petition for student funds.

Bertha, speaking for the executive cabinet, announced that forms for the upcoming USG election are now available. Any current student may run for a position in his or her respective school. Student affairs distributed the election forms via email Monday and students have until March 9 to submit their application.

Croup said the USG Debate will be held March 21 at 8:00 p.m. in the Center for Media Innovation. The debates will be livestreamed to U-View Television’s YouTube channel and carried on WPPJ Radio. Students are invited to attend a watch party that evening as the candidates for president, vice president and senatorial candidates discuss their visions for the future of Point Park and the student government.

USG will not meet during spring break and will hold its next meeting
March 5.

Valentine’s Day, students gathered in the Lawrence Hall Lobby to share the love at an event held with the Only Love campaign.

Only Love is a group that promotes inclusion and diversity and is specifically aimed towards supporting the LGBTQ community. Office of Student Life assistant Hannah Su Hepler and annual organizer of this event explained that the organization holds these gatherings to raise awareness to bullying in certain communities and show support.

“It is an anti-bullying photo campaign specifically geared towards the LGBTQ community, but taking on bullying as a whole on campuses,” Hepler said. “You sign a pledge to speak only love for twenty four hours, so like signing up for an anti-bullying pledge.”

Kelsey Wolfe, a sophomore public relations and advertising major also expressed her own support for the cause and what it stands for.

“I think that it’s something that’s important, just because it does promote the community, and Point Park is such a diverse campus,” Wolfe said. “We have a lot of different people coming from different backgrounds, but Only Love is very inclusive and I think it’s something that every college campus should promote is love and acceptance.”

The event offered the opportunity to sign an anti-bullying pledge and to take pictures with friends featuring colorful props in front of a white background to show support for the cause.

Alyssa Lowe, a sophomore education major and volunteer for the event, also supported the event, and saw it as a sort of positive message from the school.

“To me, I think it’s a good way to spread positivity, and to spread a message that one, students at Point Park don’t tolerate bullying, and Point Park also doesn’t tolerate bullying,” Lowe said.

Marvel has done it again. It’s no surprise to me that this intro movie, packed with action and great supporting roles, is probably the best I have seen in years. This cinematic masterpiece is everything in a hero movie that was missing from my childhood.

Chadwick Boseman stars as T’Challa, the king of the fictional African nation known as Wakanda. Wakanda is an advanced society hidden within the heart of the African continent, where T’Challa serves both as its ruler and its sacred protector, the Black Panther.

The layers that director Ryan Coogler slowly unveils throughout the duration of this movie were not subtle in any form. While I believe the movie was phenomenal, there were parts that should have been shown more and spoken less.

For instance, there were certain parts that I wish were filled more. Klaw, who is played by Andy Serkis, is introduced in the beginning of the film as an antagonist who wants to exploit Wakanda for its resources.

Serkis’s role as the “bad guy” was short-lived and didn’t add as much more to the storyline in its span. It took the attention away from the real antagonist, Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger. He is no stranger from a strong character role, having just played the lead in “Creed” back in 2015.

However, I felt as though there were times when he didn’t connect with his role. Disney could, perhaps, have played a factor in why Killmonger’s character made some scenes awkward. His message is not only important and valid, but it was something that wasn’t written for a black audience, in my opinion, in that we already know these messages too well. Several of his lines were too straightforward and felt forced, but the screenwriter is to blame for not building his character with more depth and room for imagination.

Killmonger initially has good intentions of sharing the wealth and knowledge to African descendants who are struggling outside of Wakanda. This goes sour when he becomes so infatuated with conquering and ruling over those who have done our ancestors wrong.

Wakanda is an example of what Africa could have been had it not been colonized and stripped of its wealth. The idea of this glorious African nation comes is timely with the Black Lives Matter movement still going strong.

I have been anticipating this movie for a long time and I was not disappointed. It’s reminiscent of Wonder Woman; both films showed strong, independent women who were warriors and capable of anything. Lupita Nyong’o left me completely awestruck. Anytime Nyong’o is on screen she captivates the crowd and never ceases to amaze me. I’m hoping that Marvel continues her story in an additional chapter of their Cinematic Universe, so I can see more of Nakia.

It is evident there was a tremendous amount of effort put to make this an experience, rather than a movie. From the sounds echoing in my theater chair to the visual effects and costume design, the details and attention that Coolger gave to everything truly is astonishing.

What more can be said besides praise for the amount of representation and diversity within this film? Black America is here in Hollywood, and here to stay. I have never been prouder. Wakanda forever.

Xavier Stephens saw multiple races this indoor track season that met the qualifying standards for the national championships.

The times still weren’t good enough. After running on oversized tracks that forced Stephens’ times to go through conversions, he always was on the wrong side of qualifying for nationals.

That changed Saturday.

Stephens qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Indoor Track and Field National Championship at the regular season finale Saturday with a time of 2 minutes, 30.54 seconds in the 1,000 meters to finish second at the Kent State Tune Up.

“I was happy and I was shocked at first,” Stephens said. “It was only the second time I ran the event this season.”

His time was converted to 2 minutes, 32.62 seconds to meet the NAIA 200-meter track standards after running on an oversized track again at Kent State. Stephens will attend the national championships in Pittsburg, Kan. during spring break from March 1-3.

He previously was just shy of qualifying in the 800 meters on multiple occasions this season.

“It’s been pretty frustrating,” Stephens said. “I’ve been running a lot stronger this season. I’m looking forward to competing on the national level and seeing where I can rank running against the best runners in the NAIA.”

Davis finished third in the triple jump Saturday at Kent State with a 14.42-meter leap. He jumped 14.51 meters earlier this season to qualify for nationals, a distance that still ranks eighth in the NAIA this year.

Andre Lowery came six centimeters short of qualifying for nationals in the long jump, and Michael Morris came within three centimeters of hitting the qualifying standard in the high jump.

On the women’s side Saturday at Kent State, Anna Shields bested her own personal record with a 2 minute, 7.68-second finish in the 800 meters to win the event. Her previous best in the 800 meters was good for the No. 2 time in the country at 2 minutes, 13 seconds.

Her time at Kent State ranks as the top time in the NAIA this season. Shields enters the national championship week with the top times in the NAIA in the 600, 800, 1,000 and the mile.

Shields also had the fourth-best time in the 800 meters last weekend among all women’s college track and field runners in the country, behind two runners from Iowa State and one from Northern Iowa.

Joining Shields at nationals next week is freshman Ana Benitez, who lifted her own school record in the triple jump to 11.88 meters, giving her the third-best jump in the country this year. Her previous best jump of 11.63 meters was ranked seventh in the NAIA.

Family, friends and students filled the Student Center Gym Sunday to watch Point Park’s competitive cheer and dance teams perform for the first time outside of a basketball game this year in Pittsburgh.

“A lot of our competitions are out of state and not local so this is definitely the time to have our families and friends come together and showcase what we have and what we’re bringing to regionals,” dance team member Alexis Diaz-Albertini said.

They used the Cheer and Dance Showcase as a dress rehearsal ahead of the teams’ regional qualifier next weekend. Both teams last year came up shy of qualifying for nationals in their inaugural year as a varsity sport.

The teams traveled to Michigan and Illinois for competitions earlier this season. Outside of competitions, the teams also attended home men’s and women’s basketball games at CCAC Allegheny.

“The gratification of a good performance in front of your closest family and friends means so much more than in front of strangers, so they’ve been working this whole year basically for this showcase, not even so much to compete,” head coach Bettina Herold said. “This is what means the most to them, so it means the most to me.”

In between routines, a ceremony recognized the six seniors who assisted Herold in building the program: cheer captains Darian Leighty and Melissa Macklen, dance captains Deanna Harris, Amber Mole, Ariellyn Jackson and Jada Powell-Black.

“Seeing it grow from a club sport to an athletic organization has been amazing,” Mole said. “You see the growth, and you see the dedication…we’re recognized as athletes, and having that recognition really means a lot to all of the girls. We really work hard so we can prove that we deserve to be called a sport here.”

Mole expressed her favorite memories included bonding with the team, tie-dying shirts to represent her family and the pep rally.

The seniors were accompanied by friends and family as Herold announced their future plans and presented them with gifts.

“Our seniors definitely built our program from the ground up, so it will definitely be sad to see them leave,” Diaz-Albertini said. “But we’re going to have a great legacy once they leave.”

Dance teammate Kimberly Keagy agreed the seniors influenced the underclassmen of the team.

“I think they’ve definitely impacted us, and they’ve definitely set the stakes and the standards for how our program is going to continue,” Keagy said. “We’re really going to miss them, but we know they’ll always be in spirit with us.”

Herold took a moment to thank the athletes for their help and commitment.

“They’re the most reliable,” Herold said. “I can always count on them to be great leaders, I can always count on them to be honest, and just their feedback and their support and their presence just dominates the room in such a positive way that it will be hard to replace but it will be replaced because they are training the kids underneath them.”

The teams also honored 14-year-old Jamie Guttenberg, one of the victims of the Parkland High School shooting last week in Florida. Members of both teams donned an orange ribbon on their uniforms and dedicated their routines to Guttenberg, a dancer from the Dance Theatre dance studio in Parkland, Fla.

Both teams will compete at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Northwest Regional Group Tournament this Friday in Sioux City, Iowa. If they qualify for nationals at the tournament, they will then travel to Oklahoma City, Okla. for the NAIA National Championship.

“At this point in the season, we’ve all been around each other for a long time, so you can tell we’re all pushing through because we want the same goal; we want to make it to nationals,” Mole said. “It’s bittersweet just knowing that it’s about to end, but at the same time, it feels like an accomplishment. I know I’m moving on to something else in life, and I have teammates who are just as dedicated and will carry it on.”

The 2017-18 season has not been kind to the Pioneers’ men’s basketball team. Point Park dropped the final three games of the regular season last weekend to extend its losing streak to 15 games.

With three River State Conference (RSC) losses to the University of Rio Grande, Ohio Christian University and West Virginia Tech, Point Park finished the season going 4-22 and 1-16 in RSC play.

“As bad as the year ended I think the guys took a lot away from it,” head coach Gabe Bubon said. “You still need to wake up and grind day-in and day-out to be a better person and that is what these guys did all season.”

With leading rebounder in senior forward Fousseini Konate (9.4 RPG) and leading scorer in sophomore guard Daniel King (19.9 PPG) sidelined due to injury, the Pioneers were left with a lack of height and offensive firepower throughout the tail-end of the season.

“It’s hard to grab a rebound when the other team is subbing in their rested players that are all above 6-feet tall,” Bubon said.

The Pioneers tipped off at Ohio Christian University in a make-up game Thursday night that set a multitude of National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) records, none of which were in Point Park’s favor.

The Pioneers were overpowered by Ohio Christian as the final score rested at 157-77.

The 80-point loss eclipsed the previous single-game team record of 68 points, a game the Pioneers dropped to West Liberty 157-89 in 2011.

The Trailblazers set four different NAIA records in their blowout win, all led by senior point guard Jalen Hearn, who dropped 59 points on the Pioneers.

Hearn made 19 made shots from behind the arc to set the NAIA single-game record for 3-pointers made by an individual.

Hearn also shot 73 percent from the floor and went 19-26 on the evening as every shot he took was from behind the 3-point line.

Hearn also cemented himself as having one of the highest scoring outputs by an individual at 59 points. There are only a few in the record books that remain higher.

The Trailblazers also now hold the record for most 3-pointers made by a team as they hit 37 shots from deep on 56 percent shooting.

With the help from Point Park, both teams now hold the record for most combined 3-pointers in a game at 45.

Point Park accounted for only eight of the 45 made 3-pointers, as the Pioneers shot just 27 percent from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers also tied their previous record for points allowed in a single game.

“With losing so many guys, it really wasn’t about wins and losses anymore,” Bubon said. “It was about how you handle yourself. You still need to come in and do what you do and these guys loved to play basketball so that is what they did, they played basketball.”

The Pioneers also dropped games at the University of Rio Grande on Tuesday where they lost 90-69 and to WVU Tech on Saturday where they were outplayed 130-76.

“It’s been a long two years at Point Park and I’m going to miss it for sure,” Rajahpillay said.

The Pioneers finished the season at 4-22 and 1-16 in RSC play. They ended the season on a 15-game losing streak that dates back to Dec. 7, 2017.

Bubon remains optimistic about next season.

“[I] want to go all the way with next year’s players,” Bubon said. “Now that I have been here a full year and I’m officially the head coach, I’m going after the best talent I can find.”

The Globe received an email from Journalism Faculty Chair Tim Hudson in response to our coverage of the School of Communication’s restructured journalism program, effective Fall 2019. The email contained a list of question and answers, which have been condensed into a guest column format.

My colleagues have asked me to answer a few questions regarding the recently approved Journalism Major changes. I am happy to do so.

1. Will students still be able to select a concentration of advanced courses in a particular type of journalism?

Yes. None of the specialized courses are going away. Students may focus their major electives in a particular area or mix them up a bit. Because these advanced courses in photojournalism, broadcast journalism, data journalism, etc., will be on a single degree program guide, students will find the advising and registration process simpler, and won’t have to worry about special approvals. Of course, as always journalism faculty will be here to discuss individual goals prior to each semester registration.

2. Has there been enough student input?

Students are represented in both the University Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Assembly. But Communication student input has been more significant than USG representation. The process began in 2009, and for two years the Dean of the School met every month with the student managers of all student media plus officers of all media-related student organizations. SoC curricular content changes during that initial period were more significant than the current restructuring. Since then, the profession-guided momentum has continued.

All six full-time Journalism professors at Point Park have been working closely with students. In capstone discussions, student media meetings, advising sessions, and informal confabs, we talk with students about the profession and our curriculum often. We also glean useful information from Student Success Surveys and student course evaluations.

3. Has there been professional and alumni input?

Each of the six PPU journalism professors has significant professional experience, credentials, professional networks, and alumni networks. We never stop consulting with this broad national and international array of successful reporters, anchors, news directors, producers, writers, thought leaders, educators, publishers, columnists, university administrators, benefactors, and media executives. We also count nationally and internationally respected experts among our own faculty.

It is important to us that a Point Parkeducation serves students well beyond their entry-level jobs, providing a foundation for life-long learning, creativity, and contribution to the media professions at the management and executive levels.

4. Was this journalism curriculum proposal rushed?

Eight years of wide open discussion have led to step by step curricular consolidation at Point Park. But decades of progress on two broad issues are represented in these changes.

The first pivotal question was whether to approach (and label) baccalaureate media curricula by delivery platform or by profession. By the end of the 1980s leading U.S. media schools had chosen to focus on the professions. The second discussion – regarding how to respond to corporate and technological convergence — took place in the 1990s and was settled at the international level by 2000. Leading universities and media organizations agreed that the future of the media professions was clearly “multiplatform.”

So, here is a sampling of degree labels that, for the most part, we do NOT see among four-year colleges: newspaper journalism, magazine advertising, broadcast public relations, cable TV production, social media journalism, mobile/portable journalism, and so on.

Instead, elite media schools have focused on the professions, with degree majors typically labeled: journalism, advertising, public relations, media production, etc. And it’s long been settled that professionals working in these fields will see their work delivered via a broad and expanding series of platforms.

Here at Point Park we began the revisions in 2009. Before long we had deleted a number of duplicative majors, and converted a “print” Journalism degree plan to the current “multi-platform” Journalism major. For several years we have been fine-tuning integration of the Broadcast Reporting and Journalism curricula. After all, if our Journalism curriculum is truly and legitimately “multiplatform,” we don’t need a similar separate major with a delivery-based label.

By 2017, the Journalism faculty decided to complete the consolidation, focusing on the profession of journalism, and assuring a rigorous, multiplatform approach. The proposal was carefully and transparently discussed, modified, and vetted. In recent weeks the curriculum sailed through the Curriculum Committee and Faculty Assembly approval processes. There are several official University documents available, detailing the 2009 -2018 curricular evolution.

I’m glad to see student journalists expressing interest and exploring these details. Please stop in to see me or one of the other Journalism professors to continue the discussion.

Violence is everywhere. We see violence on a daily basis but mass violence, especially school violence, is something no one should ever have to experience.

I know this because I experienced it. I can better understand what the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida feel. According to the Guardian, as of Thursday evening, 17 people are dead and 15 are injured.

Almost four years ago at my high school in the Pittsburgh suburbs, Franklin Regional, a stabbing took place where 21 people were attacked and, by God’s grace, everyone survived. Smaller in number, yes, and a different scenario, but still an act of violence.

The Florida shooter, Nikolas Cruz, who had been expelled, entered the school armed with an AR-15 and a backpack of additional loaded magazines, according to CNN. No motive has been released yet.

The Las Vegas shooting happened only four months ago, although it seems as if the nation has already forgotten about it. In an effort to re-sensitize the nation, students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are working to remind the country that this is an event we have allowed to become normal. What will it honestly take to get the policy and change that we need?

I understand that what I experienced was not a shooting, but a stabbing is just as traumatic.

Now, how do I relate to this situation, despite these differences? I relate to the people that stayed to help victims who were shot, and I relate to the people that saw people get shot. I too, stayed to help and I too, saw people get stabbed. The outcome of witnessing violence like this has consequences. The images of the blood and the violence you see never goes away. These students will likely suffer from PTSD, as I do.

No one seems to really care and no one is taking any action about it. It’s about time we think of those who are victims, those who were killed and the families of everyone affected by this tragedy. What’s it going to take for students, teachers and their families to feel safe in a school environment?

The River States Conference announced the hiring of its second full-time commissioner last week.

Michael Schell will lead the conference after serving as either the athletic director or assistant athletic director at Oregon Institute of Technology for 20 years. He replaces Scott McClure, who resigned after a two-year stint as the league’s first full-time commissioner last August.

Joe Glover, Indiana University (IU) Southeast’s director of athletics, served as the interim commissioner while the conference conducted a nation-wide search for McClure’s replacement. McClure resigned to take a new job as the assistant athletic director at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho.

An official start date will be announced in the near future as “relocation logistics are better known,” according to the conference press release announcing the hire. Glover will continue to assist the conference as it makes the leadership transition.

“I am honored to have been chosen the Commissioner of the River States Conference,” Schell said in the release.“The River States Conference member schools have a strong foundation, and I am excited to represent them in our pursuit to be one of the best conferences in the NAIA.”

Schell was selected as the new commissioner by the presidents and chancellors from the 13 member schools in the conference. IU Southeast Chancellor Ray Wallace is the chair of the council. Point Park President, Paul Hennigan, serves as the vice-chair of the executive committee.

“The presidents and chancellors of the 13 institutions from five state represented in the Rivers States Conference were impressed with Schell’s credentials,” Wallace said in the release. “We look forward to working closely with our new commissioner to make our conference an even strong NAIA powerhouse.”